On the front stoop of a small house in Lomita Village, Keith Padgett saw his future, though he didn’t know it at the time.

As Padgett approached the house one day, his father, a butcher with a sixth-grade education, sat outside counseling the neighborhood bully, a boy with no father.

Padgett said that one encounter changed the boy’s life, as well as his own – his father’s example of selfless mentorship setting him on a path of public service that has led him to the top post at the Pro Kids Golf, the First Tee of San Diego’s program at the Colina Park Golf Course.

Padgett, 67, started as the Pro Kids CEO last month, succeeding Marty Remmell, who spent 10 years moving the program from infancy into a hearty adolescence. Pro Kids has supported hundreds of mostly inner-city kids as they climbed through school to college to jobs, with golf and a sense of place pulling them through the gates on 52nd Street in University Heights.

On a recent weekday afternoon, there were dozens of golf bags perched out in front of the modern clubhouse at Colina Park, but not a kid on the course. They were all upstairs, noisily doing their homework in the second story learning center before getting to play.

“This isn’t about golf,” Padgett said. “It’s about education, tutoring and mentoring and trying to get these kids to college. It’s not just changing the trajectory of their life, but their whole family’s life, giving them the tools to succeed.”

Padgett has worked for the benefit of children his entire career. A Mt. Miguel High alum and Air Force veteran of the Vietnam war, he owned homes for troubled boys in North County when he was only 22. He has been the director of Big Brothers, Big Sisters programs in three cities, and his most recent post was President/CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Dieguito for 11 years.

Padgett chuckled when relating that he “retired” last summer, though he now prefers to call it a “sabbatical.” His four grandkids, some travel and even golf couldn’t keep him busy enough.

“I believe in the mission here, helping kids who don’t have a lot,” Padgett said. “Some are immigrants who need help with education, a boost in life. That’s what I’ve done most of my career, and that’s what I wanted to come back to.

“The fact that this is my hometown, and (the job) combines golf, which is one of my passions, with helping kids – it was a clear choice.”

Padgett said he played his first-ever round of golf at Colina Park when it was a haggard and mostly forgotten little place. Now he walks through its doors and sees nothing but potential. As one of his first duties, he listened to kids being interviewed for scholarships, for which Pro Kids distributes $150,000 a year.

“I was just blown away,” he said. “I became ashamed of myself for when I was their age. These kids had it so together. It’s what we taught them, to be so together. … They all want to be a doctor or lawyer or social worker. It’s the motivation. We show them here that there is a world out there; the sky’s the limit.”

City Am registration

Registration for the 2014 San Diego City Amateur is open, with entries closing June 27. There are four divisions for the 54-hole tournament, July 18-20: men’s and women’s championship, and senior men and women. For more information: sandiego.gov/torreypines